Asked by: Frank McNally (Labour - Coatbridge and Bellshill)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he plans to respond to the report by the Law Commission of England and Wales and the Scottish Law Commission entitled Building families through surrogacy: a new law, published on 28 March 2023, HC 1237, and draft bill.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Patient Safety, Women’s Health and Mental Health will be meeting with the Law Commission shortly to discuss its report and draft bill on surrogacy, and to inform consideration of the Government’s next steps.
Asked by: Frank McNally (Labour - Coatbridge and Bellshill)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what discussions he has had with his counterparts in the devolved administrations on co-operation on research funding for motor neurone disease.
Answered by Andrew Gwynne - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department funds research into motor neurone disease (MND) via the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR). Government funding for MND research includes programmes that are working collaboratively across the United Kingdom. For example, an £8 million investment into the EXPErimental medicine Route To Success in ALS (EXPERTS-ALS) by the NIHR. EXPERTS-ALS is an early phase clinical research trial which screens for drugs that have the potential to be successful in clinical trials for people with MND. Government funders have also invested £12.5 million to support the best discovery science at the UK Dementia Research Institute. Working with LifeArc, the MND Association, MND Scotland, and the My Name5s Doddie foundation, Government funders have also contributed £1.1 million to the £4.6 million MND Collaborative Partnership. Department research leads meet regularly with their counterparts in the devolved administrations to discuss research matters of common interest across the UK.
Asked by: Frank McNally (Labour - Coatbridge and Bellshill)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, when he next intends to meet with (a) Scottish Government ministers and officials, and (b) representatives from Scottish charities, universities and industry to discuss the ongoing priorities for motor neurone disease research in Scotland.
Answered by Feryal Clark - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
The Secretary of State has had positive early engagement with Scottish Government Ministers and looks forward to working further on their shared priorities for Scotland. The Minister for Science, Research and Innovation also met with Scottish Government Ministers on 10th October to discuss opportunities for shared investment opportunities across science and research.
The UK life sciences sector benefits from a diversity of medical research charity funders and officials meet with medical research charities across the UK on a quarterly basis through the DSIT Medical Research Charities Forum.
Asked by: Frank McNally (Labour - Coatbridge and Bellshill)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, whether he plans to provide additional funding for motor neurone disease research in Scotland.
Answered by Feryal Clark - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
Funding has been distributed to 92 charities across the UK supporting 1200 doctoral students and early career researchers including over £330,000 to MND Scotland. MND research has benefited more generally from over £1.6 million of funding across the UK.
The Medical Research Council has awarded £1.9 million to MND projects led by Scottish research organisations, including researchers at various career stages.